Love? Definitely Unlikely
by KobayashiNariko
Summary: Arthur Kirkland, new to the NYPD's 27th precinct, didn't want Alfred F. Jones-the confident troublemaker-as his partner,but what can he do when he realizes that Alfred's feelings for him have begun to run deeper a friend's?  UKUSUK et al.
1. Act I Scene i

Author's note: Why I am starting yet another fanfiction is beyond me. OTL Updates are guaranteed to be slow…given that I'm working on two other fanfics as well, but this ought to be fun for me to write anyway. ^_^  
Chapters will be fairly short but long enough to keep the plot going, and thereby easier for me to write and update.

This fic is a Hetalia AU with a main UKUSUK pairing, along with a few side ones as well. This is yet another idea that I have succumbed to since I have been musing about it for quite a while. It's based off the manga FAKE by Sanami Matoh, one of my favourites

**I would love to have Constructive Criticisms, I don't mind how harsh they can be; however, if you simply wish to tell me that you hate what I'm writing, please ask yourself: Why are you reading this?**

Warnings: Shounen-ai, some bad language, un-beta'd

Disclaimer, I own neither Hetalia nor FAKE, for they are both too awesome for someone like me to have created =u=

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****** *||.:*:.||* **Love? Definitely Unlikely *||.:*:.||*

**Act I**

**Scene i **

****** *||.:*:.||***  


_The New York Police Department, 27__th__ Precinct…Looks like I'm at the right place._ Arthur Kirkland entered the police station as a newcomer, just recently transferred to this precinct. As he came in, the lobby area buzzed with a number of people, both civilians and policemen; he even saw a few officers leading some people in handcuffs through the lobby. For a moment, just a moment, Arthur foolishly felt that everything would become quiet when he entered, but no such thing happened and he sighed in relief, heading to the front desks that was actually one very long desk that turned twice, blocking off a section of the room and allowing more people to come around to any of the three sides to talk to the personnel within. Taking off his coat that he had worn over his suit, he approached one woman behind the desk who was dressed in uniform.

"Good morning, miss" Arthur got her attention as he draped his coat over one arm, offering a small smile.

The young woman looked up at him from the papers she had been reading from in her hands. "Oh, an English accent? Don't hear that much 'round these parts." She smiled and blushed slightly; her voice had a delicate southern twang in it. "What's your business at the 27th percinct today?"

Arthur flushed slightly at the mention of his accent; he had long since been trying to suppress it. The way people seemed amazed and fawned over it made him a tad self-conscious. Yes, he much preferred not standing out too much. Consciously trying to inhibit his accent, he answered, "I'm Arthur Kirkland. I've just been assigned to this department."

She nodded. "You're the new guy everyone has been mentioning. Call me Amelia. Just give me a sec and I'll get your papers." She turned rummaged in a file cabinet at the desk and retrieved some documents. Arthur scanned over them, making sure that he was the one on the documents. After he had finished Amelia straightened the papers and handed them to him. "Alright, you're all done here. You just need to check in with the Investigation Chief, Alice Kirk. Her office is the one at the end of the hall." She pointed down the hall to a closed door. "Right there."

Arthur nodded, seeing the door. "Thank you."

"No problem." She tilted her head slightly, smiling playfully now. "Oh, and, uh, by the way, Arthur—just don't forget to ask me out sometime when you're free okay?" She winked and laughed lightly.

Arthur joined her, chuckling a bit. _How straightforward._ "Hm, I'll be sure to do that , Amelia." He nodded to her curtly, as was habit, and headed down the hall to the Chief's office. He soon came to a stop in front of it. _And here we are…End of the hall. I do hope this is it._ Firmly he rapped his knuckles against the door and waited. Immediately he heard someone talking inside, but he couldn't make out what he or she was saying. Whoever it was sounded rather angry though. Hesitantly, he opened the door to poke his head inside. _How odd…I definitely heard someone in here, but no one is answering._

A loud female voice greeted him. "You bloody idiot!"

Arthur flinched violently, seizing up his shoulders. He hadn't been in the office for ten minutes and he made the chief herself mad; what next? "Wha-? I'm sorr—" He stopped himself when he saw the scene inside the office and realized that she wasn't yelling at him.

A young woman, dressed in business casual, with long blond hair, tied back, had slammed her hands down on her desk, her glasses slipping on the bridge of her nose as she glared at the man standing in front of her. That tall man also happened to be wearing a pair of glasses and had caramel coloured hair that was combed rather nicely, if for the certain lock of hair that stuck up against gravity. Wearing casual business pants and a white dress shirt, his jacket held by the collar over his shoulder, he appeared rather bored as he listened to the chief, putting one pinky into his ear and twisting it around as if trying to clean it.

The woman, presumably Chief Alice Kirk, continued on her tirade. "How many times do I have to scream all this into your bleedin' ears before it sinks into your sad excuse of a brain? Are you even paying attention to me? Darn it Alfred!" Arthur blinked; he had forgotten how refreshing it was to listen to another with an English accent.

Alfred, looking even more bored, sighed. "I'm listening, Chief. I'm listening…"

Gulping, Arthur decided to make his presence known. "Umm, excuse me but…"

Alice stood straight, now looking over at him. She frowned, adjusting her glasses before crossing her arms. "Hm? What do you want?"

Arthur stood to attention, holding the papers he had gotten earlier with the hand that his coat was draped over so he could salute the Chief. "My name is Arthur Kirkland, ma'am. I have been assigned to your Criminal Investigations Unit as of today." Letting himself glance at Alfred for just a moment, he noticed that the other man had begun to sneak away from the Chief as she spoke to him.

Alice noticed Arthur's distracted gaze and glared over at Alfred, who froze immediately. "Stop right there Alfred. Just where the hell do you think you're going, idiot?"

Instantly, Alfred turned around and gave what Arthur would admit was a dazzling smile. "Well, since you're obviously a bit busy, I thought it would be in your best interest if I returned to my investigatory duties, ma'am, and—"

The chief responded to him in a dead-pan voice. "You're not going anywhere. Just give it up." Uncharacteristic of a man his age, Alfred pouted and sulked a bit as he looked over at Arthur. The Englishman returned his gaze with a slightly curious one of his own, but he soon looked back at the chief as she called to him. "Hey, rookie."

"It's Arthur, ma'am."

Alice smiled slightly, as if she had just gotten a good idea. "All right then Arthur." She pointed at Alfred with her thumb. "Meet your new partner. Ask him to show you the ropes. Just don't do anything stupid like following his example."

Arthur blinked with surprise. _Wha-? Partnered with this one?_ He looked over at Alfred, who was looking from Alice to Arthur and back, clearly not happy.

"Whaa—? W-Why the heck do I get stuck with taking care of the new child, huh?"

Grimacing, Arthur kept quiet. _Whose is the child here? I'm not the one whining._

Ignoring Alfred, Alice had already sat down at her desk, lighting a cigarette. "Have fun kid. Remember to take good care of him." She sat back and crossed her legs, signaling the end of the conversation. "The two of you are dismissed." As an afterthought when Arthur saluted and was about to turn to leave, she added, "Best of luck Arthur and welcome to the team."

Arthur nodded, giving a half-smile before turning to leave, finding Alfred already walking in front of him. Closing the office door behind him, Arthur caught up to Alfred as he went off to his desk. After a moment, Arthur spoke up, "You know, I would appreciate if you would retract that 'child' comment…Mister Alfred."

Alfred seemed distracted and he looked over at Arthur, now stopping at an intersection of two hallways. "Huh?"

_Is he even listening?_ Irked, Arthur added. "You can't call someone a child who has been around the block for over twenty years now."

It took a moment, but Alfred finally realized what Arthur was talking about. He grinned apologetically, "Ohh, you mean that 'new child' deal? Sorry man, my bad, 'kay? Look amongst us guys, we call all the rookies 'new children' alright?" Don't get worked up about it." His grin then changed into a confident smile. "At any rate—" He held out his hand, "The name's Alfred F. Jones. Just call me Alfred or Al, either one is fine.

"Arthur Kirkland. Nice to meet you." Arthur shook the American's hand politely and added as an afterthought, "And it's not like I was getting worked up about the 'child' thing…just…" He looked away, wondering what he meant to say in the first place.

Alfred looked at him curiously and something changed in the light of his eyes. When Arthur turned back to face Alfred, he found Alfred's face to be all but a few inches away, his blue eyes curious. "Hm, your eyes are a really bright green…Say—You got some English in you or something?"

Leaning a way, Arthur responded. "Erm yes…I'm almost fully English." He wondered for a moment, knowing that his ill-disguised accent had given him away.

"Then where's your accent? Don't all the Brits have an accent?" Perhaps this young man happened to be particularly dense; that, or Arthur could disguise his voice better than he thought.

"It makes me stand out too much…so I don't like to use it." Arthur could feel a flush in his cheeks so he turned his head away, missing Alfred's warm smile.

"You really sound better with it, ya know."

_Why is he so insistent? _Arthur looked back at Alfred, letting go of conscious control of his pronunciation. "F-Fine. I'll try not to hide it then…" He sighed lightly, almost in relief. _I have to admit though, it's easier this way._

Alfred then grinned from ear to ear as he slung an arm around Arthur's shoulders. "See? You're sounding better already."

"…" Glancing at Alfred before looking ahead to where the other was guiding him, Arthur mused idly. He didn't know how to explain it completely, but for being overly friendly, borderline obnoxious, and in-your-face…there was something about Alfred that made him impossible to hate.

"And remember bro, If you got any questions at all, just ask okay?" he paused slightly in his ramblings, "Of course, that'll get annoying real fast though." He suddenly grinned. "But oh well."

There was something about him that drew not only Arthur, but others towards him as well.

Alfred continued on. "Oh, and I'm counting on you to take care of all the paperwork…especially the ones that follow my totally non-frequent misunderstandings with the procedure, 'kay? Parter." An incredulous look greeted Alfred's grinning face.

He was just the guy to hate though. "How about we just don't have any _misunderstandings_ in the first place then?"

Perhaps that was the first impression…

The very first impression Arthur had of Alfred…his new partner.

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Author's note: If I get at least one review, I'll keep this fic going, since it will appear that at least one reader is interested in this. ^_^


	2. Act I Scene ii

**Author's Note: OUO** A big Thank You to everyone who reviewed the first chapter~ Your support is much appreciated! ^_^ This chapter is a tad longer than the one before, so Enjoy~

**I would love to have Constructive Criticisms, I don't mind how harsh they can be; however, if you simply wish to tell me that you hate what I'm writing, Why are you reading this?**

Warnings: Shounen-ai, some bad language, un-beta'd

Disclaimer, I own neither Hetalia nor FAKE, for they are both too awesome for someone like me to have created =u=

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***||.:*:.||*****Love? Definitely Unlikely *||.:*:.||***

**Act I**

**Scene ii**

***||.:*:.||***

Having put his jacket and coat on the back of his chair, Arthur sat at his new desk, the front of which was pushed against the front of Alfred's. He looked through a number of gruesome pictures that Alfred had handed to him from a case file. As soon as the American had taken the liberty of sitting up on his desk, facing Arthur slightly, he had begun to explain the case.

"Here's what I'm working on. This guy's name is Simon Seabag." He pointed to a particularly bloody picture of the named man that Arthur currently had in his hand. "We know he's a resident of the slum district, but that's all the info we have for now. As you can see he's been riddle with bullets; this means—needless to say—that we're dealing with a homicide, and a nasty one at that." While he spoke, he had pulled out a wrapped lollypop from his front pocket. "Here's the tricky part though. The guys who did this to him…well, let's just say they're not exactly the type you'd invite to a potluck dinner, ya know?"

Arthur put down the pictures, looking up at Alfred with some surprise. "So when it comes to the guys who killed him…we're dealing with some kind of criminal organization"

Alfred bit a corner of the plastic covering his candy so he could rip it off, nodding slightly. "Yeah, you could say that. From what we can tell, Simon here seemed to be a freelance transporter for narcotics." He paused for a moment to pull off the plastic and put the sweet into his mouth. "We suspect that something went wrong during his last transaction and—" He held up his hands, folding three of his fingers to make them look like guns, and pointed to his temples, not looking happy-go-lucky like he did when they first met. "—Bang."

"Do you think those guys planned that as a hit?"

Shrugging Alfred twisted a bit to rustle through a few papers that were sitting on his desk, right behind where he was sitting. "In an interesting coincidence, his final client happened to be part of the drug smuggling ring that we've been chasing for some time now." From under a few papers, he pulled out a few photos that were bound to the papers with a clip. Tossing them to Arthur for him to see, he continued, "Here's the head of our little ring—"

Arthur looked at the photos with some interest; it was a middle-aged man, dressed well with a strict expression. Alfred went on, "Richard Montefiore. His group isn't the most powerful but they've got some major connections to the bigger fish out there." He leaned back slightly and plucked the lollypop from his mouth and gave a half-smile. "If we somehow managed to bring down these guys, then we'd also gain a solid foothold into any future narcotics-related investigations."

Frowning a bit, Arthur propped up his head with one hand under his chin and his elbow on the desk. "So this is a homicide with drugs involved? This could get messy very easily…" Almost pouting, he sat back on his chair and added in a smaller voice, "I thought rookies got rookie assignments."

Alfred laughed confidently at that. "Hey, take it easy bro! It's just your first gig. Besides, you've got a hero like me as a partner, so what's there to worry 'bout?"

A stare of doubt greeted Alfred's reassuring comments. "The only thing I'm worried about is you…and what do you mean hero?"

Before the American could answer, a sudden banging sound reached there ears from a door leading to the interrogation room near their table opening. A young boy with blond hair and skates practically flew out of the room. In attempt to stable himself before going on, his hand went past the papers on Alfred and Arthur's desks, causing them to fly every which way. Standing just as the boy raced past, Arthur looked after him with surprise while Alfred reactively exclaimed. "What the hell?"

Arthur's now irritated partner watched his scattered papers make their way to the ground just as a flustered man came to the doorway. "Alfred-san! Please get him back!"

"Tch, great." Alfred hopped off the desk and ran after the boy, coming close enough to grab the back of the boy's jacket. Swiftly, he stepped forward and around so he came to be right in front of the boy, whose eyes widened suddenly when Alfred made a well-placed punch to his gut, knocking him out for a bit. "Better quit while you're ahead, kid."

Almost just as quickly, the man who had stood at the doorway approached Alfred as did Arthur. For the first time, the Briton got to see a serious face on Alfred as his partner looked down at the young boy. "You didn't have to knock the boy out…"

Alfred shrugged. "He'll be fine…here." Gently he transferred the boy to Arthur's arms.

Once he was secure Alfred turned to face the man who had called out to him. "Hey, Kiku, go ahead and take Arthur here to the resting room or something until the kid wakes up…then we'll try to question him again."

Kiku nodded, looking worriedly at the boy. "Very well, thank you Alfred-san." He smiled slightly, then glanced at Arthur, gesturing to the open door. "This way."

Arthur followed Kiku, curiously looking at the shorter man. "Ah…I'm Arthur Kirkland, I've only joined today."

"Yes, we've known that someone was coming. I'm glad to see it is someone kind like you. Please, call me Kiku Honda." Kiku smiled cordially as they went through a second door to the resting room that had a number of soft couches.

Arthur flushed, laughing lightly. _Kind hm?_ "Thanks." Gently he put down the boy on the nearest couch. "So who is this?"

Kiku suddenly had a slightly sad expression. "His name is Peter Seabag…"

***||.:*:.||***

"He's Simon Seabag's son?" Alfred tried not to choke on his hot chocolate, swallowing painfully and coughing a bit instead. He and another cop, his friend, Li Xiao Chun, were in the resting room enjoying hot chocolate while talking about the boy who had tried to run away earlier.

From where he stood Li Xiao nodded, taking a sip of his own drink. He always had a serene expression, and one could never truly tell what he was feeling; he also had slightly thicker eyebrows than most other Asians, as Alfred would like to say, but he claimed that was because he had some English blood in him. "I'm guessing they brought him in for questioning, but he freaked out when they asked him to identify his father's body."

Arthur sat forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees and placing the rim of the cup near his lips. "I see…" _No wonder he was trying to get away…heck, I'd do the same thing._

"Speaking of the little one…Where did he go?" Li Xiao looked around curiously then turned to Alfred, who pointed to a door that led to the interrogation room.

"Oh him?" Alfred took a small gulp of his hot chocolate. "He's fine. Arthur's keeping an eye on him now."

"Arthur?"

"Yeah, Arthur Kirkland, my new partner."

"I see…I do hope he'll be able to handle you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The other just went back to drinking his hot chocolate, not answering, but keeping the smallest of smiles.

***||.:*:.||***

Having insisted to keep an eye on the boy, Arthur returned to the interrogation room with two cups of hot chocolate. Kiku had thanked him profusely before going off to continue his own work. So far since the boy had woken, he had yet to say a single word and kept his eyes pointed to the ground.

Sighing lightly he smiled a bit and held up one of the cups. "Peter? Would you like some hot chocolate?"

In response, Peter just pulled down on his hat silently so Arthur couldn't see his eyes.

Arthur set the two cups onto the table and took a few steps toward the boy. "Look, Peter…I know this is painful, but…" he hesitated, "I was wondering about your father."

Peter continued to look down, he had now begun to grip the front edge of his chair, and Arthur could begin to see him trembling.

_Ah…I understand now._Arthur kept walking forward till he came to stand in front of Peter; slowly he bent his legs till he stood on his knees and gently tilted up Peter's cap.

_He's still…_

Trying to smile encouragingly, he said, "Just because you're a boy doesn't mean you need to keep this bottled up, Peter."

…_so young. _

Arthur tilted his head minutely, continuing on, "I cried the entire day when I lost my parents. I was eighteen then…"

Now staring straight into Arthur's eyes defiantly, Peter suddenly burst out. "Well I'm not going to cry!" He inhaled sharply when his voice cracked emotionally. His knuckles were starting to turn white from how tightly he gripped the seat. "I'm not gonna!" He blinked furiously before glaring at the ground.

The Englishman simply looked at the boy with a soft gaze. "Then you're very strong aren't you?" His expression didn't change even as Peter looked up at him for a moment, frowning as he nodded. A moment later, he bit his lip and looked down again, letting his bangs hide his eyes as he leaned forward to Arthur's shoulder, now sniffing loudly. Arthur came forward as well just as Peter began to cry into his shoulder. Gently keeping one arm around the younger one's back, he took off Peter's cap so it wouldn't get in the way.

It took a while, but Arthur remained calm for Peter as the boy let out all of his sorrows from losing his only parent, since he had lost his mother much earlier. Allowing the boy to let it all out the way Arthur did was exactly what Peter needed.

***||.:*:.||***

When Peter had finally calmed down and nodded when Arthur asked if he was alright talking about his father, Arthur gave the green light for Alfred to come in. As soon as he came in, Alfred turned on the desk light and stood on one side of the desk while Peter sat across from him. Arthur also took a chair along with a clipboard fitted with paper and a pencil to note down what Peter would say. It had already been around ten minutes and Peter had yet to properly answer Alfred; he instead took his time to drink his hot chocolate.

Alfred kept up his serious façade for just a minute more. "Alright, I'm going to ask you again kid. Where were you the night your father was killed?"

Arthur sighed. _Geez…how much more blunt can you get? He's just a boy…_ So focused Arthur was a staring incredulously at Alfred that he did not notice Peter looking over at him. All the Englishman saw was Arthur starting to get frustrated for the first time; sighing he glanced down at the blank paper in front of him.

"Don't stare at him! Just answer the question kid! Hey, are you even listening?"

Arthur looked up from the clipboard when he heard Peter ask, "What's your name?"

"Huh?" By the time he noticed Peter was asking _him_ he also noted that Alfred was beginning to snap and he managed to get up and restrain the American before got around the table.

"Look here kid, I'm the one asking the questions. Not you!"

"Calm down Alfred! He's just a child!" After sufficiently holding Alfred back, with a hand on each shoulder, Arthur turned slightly to smile at Peter, even if the smile was a tad forced. "My name is Arthur Kirkland, and this is Alfred F. Jones."

Peter leaned forward to put his elbows up on the side of the desk and prop up his head with both hands. "Hmm? You sound kinda English, but why don't you have that much of an accent? Don't all Brits have an accent?"

Arthur blinked, before covering his mouth to laugh slightly, glancing at Alfred, who—after recognizing his own question reiterated by the boy—had sat down on a chair by the desk sullenly. "They say great minds think alike." Arthur teased the sulking man lightly.

"Shaddap." Alfred tried not to pout as he glanced over at Peter, answering his question. "It's 'cause he doesn't like to stand out with that accent, or so he says."

"Well then Arthur." Peter sat back. "I'll tell you everything I know."

While the Briton only looked at the boy with surprise, Alfred sharply stared at him. "What?"

Peter frowned and obnoxiously pointed at Alfred. "But not you!"

"Oh really? That's how you wanna play it huh, kid? Well then bring it!" Alfred had already stood up, only for Arthur to stand behind him and loop his arms around his middle to stop the taller man.

"Geez Alfred. Calm down! You're going to let a child irritate you to this extent?"

Peter watched with a bit of amusement as Arthur scolded Alfred before practically pushing him out of the interrogation room so he could talk to Peter.

***||.:*:.||***

After the questioning, Chief Kirk called the officers working on the case in a meeting. Standing, Arthur had just about finished his report on what Peter had answered. "…so, according to Peter, Simon Seabag simply left his house alone and just did not return."

Alfred, who sat next to him during the meeting, spoke up as soon as Arthur finished. "In other words…after all that trouble with the brat, we got diddly-squat, right?

"I suppose so…" Arthur glanced down and nodded slightly.

Alice sighed as she took off her glasses to clean them. "Well, we'll need more than bleedin' nothing to close this one." She stood up and put on her glasses once more. "In any case, expect a bit of overtime on this case starting tomorrow lads." Checking her watch idly, she blinked with surprise. "This is it for tonight, get some rest alright?"

A buzz of noise began as the other officers stood from the meeting table and went their own way. Alfred stood as well and turned to grab his jacket from his desk chair. After straightening his papers, Arthur followed after him and once he felt out of earshot from most of the other police he called out. "Hey Alfred. Do you have a moment?"

Alfred turned to look at the Englishman, who was also retrieving his coat and jacket. "Hm?"

Arthur pretended to be busy with putting his jacket on. "Well, I was simply wondering if you were busy tonight."

"I guess I was gonna grab something to eat then hit the sack. Why'd you ask?" His expression gave nothing away, but it seemed he was simply waiting for Arthur to go on.

Struggling internally, Arthur managed to smile slightly. "Well I was wondering if…well, if you would like to have dinner with me. There's something I would like to discuss with you." He flushed suddenly under Alfred's surprised stare. "Erm, if you don't mind, of course."

"Huh?" Unexpectedly, the American also blushed mildly. "Ahm…sure, why not?"

While the two taller men talked, Peter had somehow sneaked up to Arthur and caught him by surprise, wrapping his arms around Arthur's waist. He glared up at Alfred, almost protectively. "What the hell are you blushing for, stupid!"

Alfred frowned down at Peter, irritated at the unwelcome arrival of the boy. "Hey! What the hell are you doing hangin' 'round this place? Go home!"

"Like I can go home all by myself!" Peter retorted before Arthur stopped the impending argument.

"Easy there boys…Let's resolve this over dinner hm?"

Neither males listened to him though as Peter was busy sticking his tongue out at Alfred while Alfred held himself back from pulling Peter away from Arthur.

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**Author's note: Even though I updated this early, 'm off on vacation for a couple of days, so it'll be a little while till the next chapter. I appreciate all interest you show in this fanfic! All of your support makes me happier than you realize~ Again If I get even one review, I'll know for sure that at least one person is interested in the story, and I'll keep writing. :3**


	3. Act I Scene iii

**A/N: **Thank you to anyone and everyone who has stuck with me thus far on this little fic. ^^ I apologize sincerely for my unexplained hiatus…one thing happened after another and I fell into a mood that refused to allow me to write. However things are getting better so I present to you Act I Scene iii of Love? Definitely Unlikely.

Warnings: Light Yaoi/shounen-ai, some bad language, etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or Fake, but this juxtaposition is mine :3

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***||.:*:.||*Love? Definitely Unlikely*||.:*:.||***

**Act I**

**Scene iii**

***||.:*:.||***

"What? You're going to take that little punk in for a bit?" Alfred twirled the knife around so the point was making little circles in the air as he leaned one hand on the edge of the dining table. "You gotta be out of your mind Arthur!"

Arthur sighed and shook his head as he went about saving the fish from getting burnt on the stove. "Calm down a bit will you? And look at his situation." His back was to Alfred as he began to wash a bowl of greens for the salad. "He doesn't have any relatives that we know of or ones that he's willing to tell us about. That and since his father has passed, he's getting kicked out of his apartment because he's too young to live there on his own!"

Rolling his eyes, Alfred idly eyed the still uncooked fish fillet that was set out on the cutting board. "I mean, sure he's a kid and all, but are you really thinking through this clearly?" More knife flailing. "He's still a kid out of the 'hood. You don't know what he's capable o—"

Arthur turned sharply and Alfred froze slightly under the sudden piercing gaze. The hand that held the knife also stopped moving as Arthur approached and plucked the knife from his hand, which brushed lightly with Arthur's as he felt the handle of the sharp kitchen-utensil slip from his grip. For some reason this sent a slight chill down Alfred's back, but he didn't get much time to dwell on the feeling as Arthur pressed the bowl of greens into his hands, frowning as he spoke. "You don't know him, so how can you make judgements like that?"

"Oh and I suppose you do?" Man, Arthur was able to look strict…Alfred frowned as well, though in a more childishly stubborn way as he put the bowl on the dinner table.

"Likely more than you," Arthur said as he waved a hand nonchalantly while he went back to face the stove to cook the last fish, "and, can you make the salad?" He took the fillet and set it on the frying pan, a sizzling sound immediately filling the air. "Besides, why don't you try sitting down and talking to the lad? You may see it the way I do then. Perhaps after dinner, when he's finished taking his bath?"

Sneaking a leaf from the bowl and nibbling on it, Alfred tilted his head slightly, mumbling with his mouth full. "Uh huh, sure." He chewed and swallowed the leaf. "But only because you suggested it."

From where, Alfred couldn't see him, Arthur allowed himself a little smile, content that at least the American would give it a try.

***||.:*:.||***

_How long does it take to dry your hair…seriously?_ Alfred couldn't pinpoint why this child annoyed him so…it just happened. He figured it stemmed from the frustrating interrogation process earlier that day. Though he told Arthur that he would try talking to the kid after dinner, he was taking his own sweet time as he lay on the couch while Peter sat near the coffee table. Having come from the shower he was trying as he could to dry his hair with a towel much too large for him. Alfred watched the scene from the corner of his eye, not paying attention to the magazine in his hands any more.

"Urgh…" Peter made a number of small, frustrated noises as he awkwardly tried to dry his hair, the towel flailing around as it became apparent he wasn't getting anywhere fast.

Sighing heavily, Arthur closed the magazine and set it on the side of the couch, then sitting forward to snatch away the towel and sit on the ground behind the boy. "Give it here." He took the side of the towel with two hands and began to furiously scrub Peter's scalp, meanwhile, he he hooked one leg around the kid's middle so he couldn't run away.

"Whaaa? Get the heck away from meee! Uwaa ow ow owwww!" Peter struggled and whined as Alfred just frowned and dried the hair with more focus than needed for such an activity.

"Shut up and stop moving around like that!" Alfred complained right back to him. "It was friggin' annoying me! Just how long does it take to dry your hair?"

After quite some struggling, Alfred finally managed to make Peter sit still as he dried the boy's hair. Curiously, he looked over Peter's shoulder and found him clutching a sailor hat, the other cap he was wearing a bit aways from his outstretched feet. "Hey…that looks handmade. Did your mom make it?"

"So what if she did? What's it to you?" Peter asked with a stubbornly snobbish tone.

Alfred grimaced, now irritated again. "Geez…I'm starting to think you live to piss me off." He paused for a moment as he looked down at the cap again. "I'm just saying that it looks well-made. That's all."

"Well I hate it."

Now that comment took Alfred aback for a moment. Given the way how Peter clutched onto it, it seemed like something rather precious. After another pause, Alfred suddenly grinned. "Oh? I get it. You got teased because of that thing don'tcha?" his cheeky grin didn't help much as he pulled the towel around Peter's shoulders.

"Shut up! It's not like that!"

"Riiiiight. Sure shorty. So, how badly did they tease you huh?" He over stepped his boundaries in his own teasing as he poked both of Peter's cheeks. Not being able to handle the policeman much longer, Peter went right ahead and hit Alfred in the stomach with his elbow, causing the elder to finally snap.

***||.:*:.||***

Meanwhile, Arthur, who had been listening in from the hallway after coming from his own shower, peeked into the room only to find the two of them wrestling. _I suppose the pair of them are better at communicating with their fists rather than words. They are similar in that aspect as well._ Returning to leaning against the wall beside the door of that room, Arthur couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he heard the two of them in the background.

"Alright. That's it! This is war, punk!"

"Shut your face, creepy old man! Don't make fun of my cap!"

"Who're you calling an old man?"

"You!"

Arthur shook his head and smiled as he walked into the room some moments later. Bemused, he found the two of them sprawled out on the floor, exhausted. "Well then, time for bed hmm?"

***||.:*:.||***

As the three of them went into Arthur's room, Alfred whistled appreciatively at the giant bed taking up space in the corner. Peter immediately grinned and climbed onto it, his foot slipping once, comically, on the comforter as he climbed up the tall side. Bouncing on it a bit before heading to the window, Peter busied himself by looking out over the city since Arthur's flat was on one of the upper floors.

"That's a huge bed ya got here. What is it? A king size?" Alfred went up and sat up on the side of the bed, grinning cheekily. "You got a woman or something to go with this?"

Arthur felt his temple throb slightly as he answered and sat beside Alfred. "Of course not!" This was my parents' bed…" His voice softened as he paused. "I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it."

At that point Alfred had tilted his head and begun to stare at him with an unreadable yet thoughtful expression. "…You grew up in a loving family didn't you?"

"Oh and you didn't?" Arthur smiled as he let slip those words, regretting it as he saw Alfred pull up one knee, resting his fist on it and pressing his mouth lightly to the side of that fist, his eyes still trained on Arthur's.

"I wonder sometimes…" Moving suddenly he leaned forward, wrapping an arm around Arthur's shoulders, his face was somehow very very close now. "But you'll love me won't you?"

"Huh?" The implications of the words took a moment to register as Arthur was still getting over the proximity of the other man.

"Pfft" Alfred covered his mouth with a fist again to stifle a laugh. "Dork." He leaned back, removing his arm from Arthur's shoulders, which then felt a bit cold without the warmth. "It's a joke Arthur. Don't take everything so seriously!" He then looked over at Peter as Arthur continued to stare at him, thinking deeply. "Come on then Peter. Let's get to sleep."

Peter looked away from the window unwillingly but nodded. "Mn…okay."

***||.:*:.||***

The last to get in bed, Arthur couldn't help but be a little relieved that Alfred was on the far side by the window with Peter between them. They had fallen asleep quickly, but Arthur couldn't sleep just yet as he propped up his hand with one hand, an elbow embedded into the soft pillow, as he looked over at Alfred.

"Alfred?" He decided to call out to see if the other man was still awake.

_…I wonder if…he likes guys more than girls. It doesn't seem like he has a girlfriend or anything but I suppose I don't know much about him at all…_ He stopped propping up his head and let it fall on the pillow, his gaze now trained on the ceiling. _But what he said was indeed deeper than he played it off as…and…_ He blinked a bit and shook his head, closing his eyes. _On the other hand, I have to stop thinking about his sexual orientation…if I focus too much on that I'm going to have to admit some things about myself finally. Hah…Good night and thank God you're here Peter. Else…I might have been in trouble, I think. _

As the three of them slept, outside of the apartment, some rather shady-looking characters had gathered at the corner of an adjacent building to the flat. They lit a cigarette each and looked up at his apartment from the corner. "So you sure the kid's there?"

"Yep."

"Hmn. We'll get him tomorrow then."

***||.:*:.||***

The following morning, Arthur and Alfred dressed in civilian clothing with Peter skating around with them at the local park where the crime scene was located. It was relatively quiet with a small murmur of people passing by in the area since a good section of it was police-taped for preservation of the site. Peter kept up next to Arthur as Alfred trailed behind, looking slightly annoyed as he lowered his sunglasses to look at the back of Arthur's head. "Arthur, just to confirm: We're not here to have fun, right?"

He then looked at Peter going around in circles with something of a pout as Arthur answered, "Not at all. It's all legal work here." He turned his head to smile slightly at Alfred, making another chill go down his spine inexplicably. "It's our job you know."

"Tch, you don't have to tell me _that_." Alfred frowned and pushed up on the sunglasses.

"In any case," Arthur said as he became a bit distracted and pointed in the direction in which they were headed. "The crime scene is actually right over here. See?"

"Then why the hell didn't you leave the kid at home?" Alfred got straight to the point, his annoyance clear at Peter, who skated and other circle around Arthur and stuck out his tongue.

Arthur rolled his eyes, shook his head, and ignored him as he spotted a hotdog stand. "hmm."

"Oi!"

Blinking Arthur finally turned to look at the irate officer, sighing slightly. "We'll have to protect him, Alfred. Since there's some syndicate action going on, he might be in danger if left alone."

"Tch. I still don't see how you got permission to "protect" him…" Alfred's voice fell to an audible mutter.

"The chief seems alright with it. So I don't see a problem." As if that closed the argument, Arthur turned to Peter and gestured at the stand. "Peter! You want a hotdog or something? It seems they have hamburgers too."

Peter's eyes lit up as he stopped his skating to stand in front of Arthur. "Yes! Could you buy some juice too?"

Arthur lightly ruffled Peter's head and adjusted the sailor cap. He had begun to wear it instead of the other cap he had worn during the interrogation. "Mhmm. Wait here and I'll be back soon alright?"

Peter grinned as Arthur headed over to the stand. "Okay!"

Taking off his sunglasses, Alfred stared down at Peter with a frown. "What's with the goody-goody act for Arthur huh?"

Peter spun to face him, his skates grating against the concrete of the sidewalk. "It's not an act. I just don't like you." He crossed his arms. "At all."

"Feeling's mutual. Trust me." Alfred tucked his sunglasses into his front pocket. "Hmph…then again, he _would_ be the type to be liked by kids, whouldn't he? Might have something to do with him actually liking little brats. Unlike me!" he busied himself with taking out a lollypop from his jacket pocket and unwrapping it, struggling a bit with the tightly twisted wrapping.

"..." Peter stared up at him suspicious frown as the sound of the crinkling wrapper filled the air between the two of them. "It seems like you really like him too."

"You think so?" Alfred slipped the lollypop ito his mouth and stuffing the wrapper into his pocket, becoming distracted by his thoughts. _The brat's right it seems. I've only known Arthur for a day and yet...there's something so soothing about him. Even though he scolds me way too much... _Alfred frowned slightly a this thought, but continued on this rail. _I barely know anything about him, but I've let slip and opened up so much already. I've never done that before, but then again, I' ve never felt like this before either...gah ...This is going to make my head hurt..._ Alfred kept his eyes trained on Arthur's somewhat distant figure over at the hotdog stand, idly twirling the stick of the lollypop between his thumb and fingertips.

" You're in love with him aren't you?" Peter's straightforward question broke Alfred's train of thought, and he made the mistake of processing the question and not preparing himself for the sudden blush that cropped up, causing Peter to burst out and point at him dramatically, "You sleazy bum! I'm going to protect Arthur from you and any people like you!"

"Shut your mouth kid. What's with all this BS?" Alfred kept himself from biting the lollypop by pulling it out and pointing it back at Peter. "That's pretty big talk from a runt."

"I'm gonna protect Arthur." Peter's gaze looked defensive and resolute, his arms crossed once more.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Alfred bend down to meet his eye level, grinning suddenly. "Besides, he's not yours to protect or anything like that!" Twitching, Peter glared and kicked one of Alfred's shins with his skate, causing the elder to cry out as he skated away, looking back only to stick out his tongue. "What was that for you mini-baboon? Come back here!"

"As if!" Peter turned his head back to look forward as a dark car came to park on the side of the road just ahead of him. Without warning the back door of the car opened and a man's arm shot out to grab Peter by his middle. With a gasp, Peter's eyes widened and he struggled against the grip.

"Peter!" Ignoring the dulling pain in his shin, Alfred had already begun to run after Peter, who was keeping the stranger busy with his wriggling long enough for Alfred to pull back one arm and punch the man. Taking this opportunity, Peter took hold of the front of Alfred's shirt to get away from the stranger. Using his other free hand, Alfred tightly grabbed the back of Peter's jacket and threw the kid behind himself. Unfortunately that left Alfred wide open for the stranger's fist to squarely hit his gut, at the very point that caused Alfred to lose his breath and double over. Before he could react, the man had pulled out a gun and hit him on the back of the neck with the butt of the weapon. The officer's eyes lost focus, and before he knew it, he had lost consciousness.

"Alfred!" Peter cried out and knelt by him, tugging frantically at his collar. "Alfred! Alfred! Wake up!"

He looked up as he heard from the open door, another man, the driver, say, "Hurry it up before someone sees us!"

In response to that command the stranger loomed over Peter menacingly. "Come on kid." He roughly grabbed Peter's sides, but in that same moment Peter latched himself onto Alfred, his arms wrapped around the elder's neck and above his shoulders. "What the hell! He won't let go!"

"Then take the guy along with the kid!" the driver shouted, and the stranger—much to Peter's horror—hefted both Alfred and Peter into the dark car.

***||.:*:.||***

"Yes, thank you." Arthur smiled as he paid for the food and took the bags back to where he left Alfred and Peter. He would have to apologize for how long it took; it seems the stand was rather popular and had a few people in line.

Confused for a moment, he looked around as he approached the area where he was _sure_ that the two of them were waiting, as his gaze swung right he noticed a car passing by. In that split-second gaze he could see through the passenger side window and a severe chill went through him. Clear as day, he had just seen Alfred, seemingly knocked out and with Peter attached to him, being taken away by whoever was in that car.

The bags that held the food and drink he had just bought slipped from his slackened hands and crashed to the concrete with a soft crumpling sound mixed with the metallic cans clanking against one another. Yet Arthur neither felt nor heard either; his wide eyes has locked onto the escaping vehicle.

_Alfred? Peter!_

* * *

_A/N; _So yes, I'm not letting go of this fic. It's definitely not being dropped. I'll see it through the end as long as I can help it. :3


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